Problem of pain and pleasure

Preparing for my talk on the problem of pain and pleasure has set me pondering again on the reality of pain and the seduction of pleasure. In combing through CS Lewis' writings on the topic, I am again reminded of the gems of truth that are hidden in two of my favorite books of his, The Problem of Pain and A Grief Observed.

Now, no one can really allege that Lewis knew nothing about what real pain is as Joy, his wife, died a mere few years after they were married. Here're are two sample quotes from Lewis on pain and suffering:

“The problem of reconciling human suffering with the existence of a God who loves, is only insoluble so long as we attach a trivial meaning to the word ‘love’, and look on things as if man were the center of them. Man is not the center. God does not exist for the sake of man. Man does not exist for his own sake.”

“What we would here and now call ‘happiness’ is not the end God chiefly has in view: but when we are such as He can love without impediment, we shall in fact be happy.”

Then there is the allure of pleasure that somehow entices us to believe that pleasure is the real end of our life and therefore we must expend all in its pursuit. There is so much more that I'd like to say about the error of making pleasure the ultimate quest of our life but I shall leave you with another quote from Lewis.

In his book, The Screwtape Letters, Lewis writes an imaginary exchange between a senior devil and his intern on the subject of pleasure:

“He (God) made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Here we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an every diminishing pleasure is the formula.”

We are off to India this evening and we'll be sure to update you on our trip when we get back next week.